Spring wheel



J. JEIDEL.

SPRING WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. 1921.

Patgnted Aug. 22, 1922.

2 SH EETS-SHEET 2.

=1 LV; .i. a V

is. in it JULIUS JEIDEL, OF CHICAGG, ILLINOIS.

SPRING "WHEEL.

,1 a Specificai'i on of tters tent.

fla'trnited Aug. 22, 1922.

Application. filed October 7, Serial No. 506,109.

To all win in, it may concern I lie it lrnown that l. :lUZJEUS dnrnnn, acitisen of the United Qiates. residing at Chiin the county of Cool: andState of Illinois. have 'ave iited certainnew and u fulllE'Ilp/IO-.'tn1(3nl1 in Spring Wheels, of which the follow' is aspecification.

ltlv invention relates to spring wheels and. one of the objects of theinvention is to nko ide a construction which will utilize all of the allthe time, that is, a construction sue that all of the springs.practicallv SDtfilCll j. be effective for all positions of the wheel.other object is to provide friction means interposed. between hub andthe felloe, capable of operating as a shock absorl r. Still another'ovide cons ruction by which he kept thoroughly lubricated and withoutany attention on the part 0 v .e n 1- -.cept at long; intervals. I lobtain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in will Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view showing thearrangement of the springs and rriction leaves.

Figure 5 is perspective view of a spring seat.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a modilied form of spring having anantifricti0n roller at its free end.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

In the form shown in the drawings, the wheel has a hub 1 adapted to bearon the axle 2 in the ordinary manner. 0n the outside it has an integralflange or disc 1- which, is be] ted to member 6 which has a cv 'ndricalcentral aperture to enable it to over the hub 1, and in a sense becomesa part it. Consequently the parts 1 and 6 may be regarded as composingthe hub of the wheel. Radiating from the hub are spokes 10.

Fit-S Qllytl to the edges of the spokes are .-pr1no, 1 These are thepr1ncipal springs of the wheel and they extend approximately racially,as saown. They are illustrated in the form of leaf springs the planewhereof is at right angles to the plane of the wheel. They are fastenedat their inner ends, in the present case by blocks 14 bolted to the hub.The springs are free at their outer ends where they bear in seats 16fastened to the rim 18 of t 1e wheel. According to the present designthese seats are in the gen eral form of an arch and have feet 20 bywhich they'may be riveted or otherwise fas toned to the rim. This,however, is not tial. the chi f point being that they are redapproximately radially and that their sides slope with respect to thenearest radius. .ln the design. shown, the seats slope in two oppositedirections from the point where the free ends of the springs norn'iallyrest. In other words, they are cupped or are doubly sloped so that whenthe cooperating springmoves radially in either direction from the normalposition, the strain of the spring will be increased. By properlyreducing friction the springs freely slide on the seats and always tendto come to rest at the center or depressed portion of the seat, thustending to hold the hub in central position. In the form shown inFigures 1 and 5 the free ends of the springs are rounded and means areprovided for lubricating them. In the form shown in Figure 6 the freeend of the spring is provided with an anti-friction roller 27 forenabling the parts to act freely. I

l astcned to the rim 18 are two annular 'plates 30." These enclose theouter ends of the springs and the outer ends of the spokes one of theirfunctions being to prevent end-thrust. that is relative movement of thehub and rim in an axial direction. The springs 12 and seats 16 arelocated between them. Friction members 4L0 are arranged radially on eachside of each spoke. They are here illustrated in the form of flat barsof fibre or other appropriate material. They are fastened at the innerend to the sid of the spokes and at the outer end they .re x-"ieldingheld spaced a slight distance from the spokes by helicoidal compressionsprings 42 which are mounted in apertures formed at the ends of thespokes. The springs are arranged parallel to the axis of the hub andbelow it.

the wheel and their purpose is to press the ends of the frictionelements or fingers 40 against the inside of the ring-like plates'30 tocreate friction when the parts move relative to each other. Thisfriction yieldingly resists movement of the hub relatively to the rimand hence the friction elements serve as shock absorbers and prevent toorapid recoil when the main springs 12 have been strained.

It is desirable to enclose the co--acting parts in oil, and for thispurpose I provide cover plates 50 which extend to the rim of the wheeland are apertured at the center to accommodate the hub elements 1, 6. Inorder to form a tight closure at the inner rim and atthe same timepermit relative movement between the hub and the rim, I provide washers52, mounted in the hub in such manner as to permit the cover plates topass between them. The inner cover slate and the adjacent washers areheld in position by a disc 54: which is bolted to the hub andcorresponds with the flange 4i of the hub element 1.

The operation will now be readily understood, l Vhen the parts areassembled the wheel is partially filled with lubricating oil, thepurpose being to permit the springs 12 to slide freely upon the seats16. It, now, in traveling, the rim, of the wheel strikes an obstacle andtends to rise to pass over it the seats 16 in rising will act like camsto press the ends of the springs 12 toward the adjacent spokes. This istrue of all the spring seats except two, or a few which are, temporarilyin approximately horizontal position. The springs which areapproximately horizontal and which are temporarily on the underside oftheir seat will, of course, have no effect in supporting the hub at themoment, but all the others will act in the manner stated both above Thusall of the springs, practically speaking, are effective all of the time,and thus they may be of much lighter weight and material than in thosewheel's where only a few of the springs are operative at a time. h

Another advantage of my construction is that it is noiseless, not onlybecause it is usually filled with oil but because the fibre fingerswhich act as friction'elements are naturally soundless under suchcondition. They merely rub upon, the side plates and there is no causefor any clicking or similar noise. Another advantageous feature of myconstruction is that when the springs are strained the pressure isalways in the same. direction ethat is, towards the adjacent spoke. Thisis much better-than in those cases where the spring isstrained first onone side and then on the other side of a normal line of, rest. Byexerting pressure eeann always in the same direction the life of thesprings is greatly increased.

Having thus described my invention what 1 claim as new and desire tosecure'by Letters Patent is:

1. A spring wheel having a hub and a felloe, one having springsarrangedapproximately radially and the other having seats, the springsbeing fastened at one end and free at the other, the free ends of thesprings seating in said seats, and the seats having sloping, nonradialsides whereby the engaged ends of the springs tend always to return tothe bottom of the seats and thereby hold the hub concentric with thefelloe. I

2. In a sprin vehicle wheel, the combination, with the hub and felloe,of springs extending approximately radially and fastened to the hub oftheir innerends, and seats fastened to the felloe and adapted to engagethe outer ends of the springs, each seat being a concavity the sidesvwhereof are sloping and rise on either side from the bottom of theconcavity whereby they serve as a pair of cams tending always to returnthe engaged end of the cooperating spring to the bottom of the concavityand thus centralize the hub.

S. A spring wheel having a hub and a felloe, springs extendingapproximately radially and fastened to the hub at their inner ends, andseats fastened to the felloe, the springs contactin with the seatsalways at their outer ends, and the of the seats being oblique wherebywhen the end of the. spring moves either towards or away from the centerof the wheel its tension will be increased.

41-. A spring wheel having a hub and a fclloe, and springs interposedbetween them for resiliently supporting the hub, the hub havingradiating spokes and the felloe having a side platearranged in the planeof the wheel, and friction members fastened to the sides of the spokesand adapted to rub on said side plate to check the recoil and absorbshocks. i

as springwheel having a hub and a felloe, and springs interposed betweenthem for resiliently supporting the hub, the hub having radiating spokesand the felloe having side plates on both sides of the hubs, frictionmembers arranged radially and fastened at their inner ends to the sidesof the spokes, and compression springs adapted to press the outer endsof the friction members against said side plates to thereby createfriction when. the hub moves relatively to the side plates in the planeof the wheel. i

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JULIUS Jninnn

